In the present state of the art, plasma and other biological materials are stored in a frozen state to preserve the materials for subsequent use in a patient. In many cases, it is desirable to thaw frozen biological materials rapidly. For example, frozen plasma must be thawed rapidly to be used in emergency situations. Rapid thawing is also desirable to limit the amount of time that thawed plasma sits in storage. Thawed plasma has a limited shelf life, and coagulant factors in thawed plasma can degrade in a relatively short amount of time. When thawing time is long, medical professionals often take many frozen units of plasma out of cold storage in advance of an operation, so that they have a large volume of thawed plasma available by the time the operation begins. This can result in wasted plasma if some of the units are not used. Rapid thawing allows medical professionals to order frozen units of plasma on an as-needed basis, reducing the potential for wasted plasma.